About Dan Gillings

Definitions are important. If you don’t fully understand the meaning of a word, how can you possibly use it?

I mention this because, recently, I have found more people interested in the idea of liberty and wanting to know more. One of the major questions I am asked is what is the difference between a liberal and a libertarian? For most of us who embrace liberty, the question is academic but I remember it wasn’t that long ago I didn’t know the difference.

To that end, I have reproduced a copy of an e-mail I send to a friend of mine which explains the differences;

It’s been about a week since the Arizona shooting and many pundits are discussing what a ‘post-Tucson’ world will look like. For starters, the hyperbole of using the phrase ‘post-Tucson’ is overwhelming. It’s not like the cold blooded murder of 6 people is of biblical proportions or the whole fabric of time and space unravels. And forgive me if I sound cold, but when we have Government sanctioned cold blooded killings of manymore civilians on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s hard not to bury ones head in ones hands and let out a deep sigh.

Would you like to understand our current financial system? If you do understand it, would you like to be able to explain to someone else why we are in such a mess with our economic system? Would you like to do this in under 30 minutes and be thoroughly entertained at the same time?

Then look no further! Tad Lumpkin and Harold Uhl have made a remarkably easy to follow and entertaining video that does all this!

Last Saturday, a lone gunman shot and killed 6 people at a ‘meet and greet’ session with Congresswoman Gifford. The details of the shooting can be found here.

Since then, much like the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995, political opportunists from all spectrums have been jumping on the bandwagon trying to push forward whatever agenda they have before the victims of the deceased are even laid to rest. The dominant theme seems to be gun control and the curbing of the 1A.

References to “selling the Brooklyn Bridge” abound in American culture, sometimes as examples of rural gullibility but more often in connection with an idea that strains credulity. For example, “If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.”

Listening to anything the main stream talks about sets me off on such a rant about the how rubbish it is, I tend to avoid it at all costs. Unfortunately, even the stealthiest ninja gets a splinter once in a while.

According to a press release found on the DHS website, 800 Walmart stores will be playing a message on it’s TV screens from the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, which further extends the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign. The video can be viewed here.

The video has a 1984, Nazi style feel it, which just propagates the fear that we are all terrorists. It is clear that the DHS is not interested in the ‘traditional’ terrorists we all think of (Arabs in caves in the Middle East), but they are more interested in Libertarians, gun owners, people who oppose government intervention in their lives, returning veterans, and ‘right wingers’. The MIAC report stated this.

“But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was affected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people…. This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections was the real American Revolution” – John Adams

No matter how tyrannical a government is, it can only exist with the consent of the majority of people that live under it. Whether this consent is via compliance, apathy, or fear of retribution if one does not fall in line, the system cannot support itself if enough people withdraw their consent. No matter how tyrannical a leader is, without people to carry out there liberty crushing ideals, they would be nothing more than a raving lunatic alone in the dark. How different history would be if the German and French soldiers refused to fight during WWI and/or WWII. How different the latest TSA nonsense would be if the TSA agents refused to carry out the new procedures. But alas, sustained civil disobedience is a rare thing in history.